"No Ladies at the Bar": Equality in Gender as a Basis for Complementarity and Not Oppositionality

Abstract

Purpose: Various authors have copiously discussed gender issues. However, these discussions have often resulted in antagonistic positions that put the male and female genders at loggerheads. This situation requires urgent interventions, as the effect seems to inhibit or prolong the journey to achieving equality for the female gender in a male-dominated, patriarchal world. This paper seeks to clarify controversial gender issues and engages the "well-worn" discourse on gender equality. This paper fills the existing gap in literature due to the dearth of emphasis on complementarity in gender discourse. It will encourage the gender discourse to more accurately contextualize the complementarity of gender rather than propagate the idiosyncrasies that encourage discrimination and oppositionality as captioned by the title of the paper. 

Methodology: Theories of egalitarianism and complimentarianism propounded and promoted by Biblical feminist from the 1970s and 1980s served as the framework for this work. The paper adopted a library-based legal research methodology by reviewing existing literature on gender discourse while primarily adopting qualitative methods using social media recruiting techniques via google forms. The study used a quantitative approach to gather its primary data through a structured questionnaire that included both closed-ended questions, where respondents had to select from pre-provided answers, and open-ended questions, which allowed respondents to provide multiple answers. With the use of SPSS, the data was analyzed at the univariate level using descriptive statistics and displayed as frequency tables and charts.

Findings: Findings gleaned from the responses of 210 participants from differently oriented societies namely Nigeria (patriarchal), Equatorial Guinea, and some dominant tribes of Ghana (matriarchal) on their perception of the impact of the equality discourse on coexistence with the opposite gender further substantiated that the equality mantra has inadvertently propagated the concept of oppositionality with dire consequences on mutually beneficial relationships between both genders in every facet of life

Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The paper proposes a more suitable theory that promotes equality without jeopardizing the diversity, inclusion and synergy required for both genders to co-exist harmoniously for the attainment of sustainable development in any society.